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On June 9, 2025, a US district judge dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. According to The Guardian, Judge Lewis Liman ruled that Lively's s*xual harassment claims in her initial lawsuit against Baldoni constituted protected speech and were therefore not defamatory.
Additionally, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni’s extortion claims, stating that California law does not classify disputes over creative control as a basis for extortion. The judge also dismissed Baldoni's $250 million defamation suit against The New York Times, invoking "fair report" privilege for the paper's coverage of the allegations. While the ruling allows Baldoni to refile several contract-related complaints, the core of his case was dismissed.
Media personality Perez Hilton, who provides real-time updates and reactions through his YouTube channel, described the ruling as a "devastating defeat."
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"No matter how team Justin Baldoni tries to spin what happened, this is a devastating defeat," he said. "This is definitely an eye-opening experience for me as somebody who is not a lawyer. It just goes to show you how much power a judge has, because this hasn't even gotten to a jury yet. I would have assumed, incorrectly, that it's up to a jury of their peers to determine everything."
More about the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
The legal battle between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has escalated, as a federal judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times.
According to the BBC, the legal drama began in December 2024 when Blake Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, for s*xual harassment and a smear campaign in retaliation for her speaking out about unsafe working conditions on the set of the film It Ends With Us.
Blake Lively, who starred in the film opposite Baldoni (who was the director), stated that she faced pressure and backlash for voicing her concerns. Her claims were subsequently covered in a New York Times article, which presented her allegations in a way that Baldoni contended misrepresented text messages and harmed his reputation.
In retaliation, Justin Baldoni filed a counter-suit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist for $400 million, alleging that they had defamed and extorted him. He claimed that Lively leveraged her stardom to gain creative control of the movie by insisting she wouldn’t promote it unless her script rewrites were approved.
Baldoni also filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the paper of publishing false claims with knowledge. As reported by The New York Times on Monday, June 9, 2025, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman dismissed Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit, finding that claims made by Blake Lively were constitutionally protected speech and could not form the basis for a defamation claim.
The judge ruled that Lively’s negotiations over creative control for a series did not constitute extortion. In the case of The New York Times, Judge Liman determined that the paper’s reporting was privileged under the common law doctrine of "fair report privilege,” which provides journalists protection while reporting on official proceedings.
He stated that Baldoni did not present sufficient evidence that the Times acted with actual malice, a key requirement for defamation cases involving public figures. The judge has allowed Baldoni to amend and refile certain claims by June 23. Blake Lively’s original lawsuit against Justin Baldoni is ongoing, though she recently dropped two counts of emotional distress.
Perez Hilton reported on how the judge has allowed Justin Baldoni to amend only two of the nine complaints filed. The two causes of action that could be amended are the claims of tortious interference with contract and breach of implied covenant.
According to The Guardian, Blake Lively's legal team released a statement following Judge Liman's ruling. They said,
"Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Beldon and the Wayfairer parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloan, and the New York Times. As we have said from day one, this $400 million lawsuit was a sham and the court saw right through it."
Justin Baldoni's legal team has yet to publicly release a statement.
